Does a religious tourist need a guide? Interpretation and storytelling in sacred places.

Abstract

Abstract This chapter presents contemporary trends in religious tourism and the role that pilgrimage plays in shaping the knowledge and attitudes related to the religious and spiritual heritage of the region. Based on surveys and direct interviews in the Pomerania region (north-west Poland and north-east Germany), the role of a tourist guide was determined to be an 'interpreter of places and routes, responsible for the provision of an adequate storytelling process'. The chapter also attempts to answer some key questions that trouble contemporary researchers studying the problem of interpretation in tourism, associated with the phenomenon of pilgrimage and/or religious tourism.